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Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts 2017/18

Kirstenbosch announces Cat Stevens and some other stellar acts to rock you this summer.

Woohoo! Some of the acts for the highly anticipated Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts 2017/2018 have been announced – Cat Stevens, Goldfish and The Vamps are just some of the stellar artists on the exciting bill.

Concerts, sadly, only kick off in November, so there are still a few months to go, but you can start booking tickets now to avoid disappointment.

As usual, the magnificent gardens provide the backdrop for these open-air gigs – the perfect place to spend lazy afternoons. It’s also a fantastic picnic location, so bring along a blanket and a hamper of goodies.

Cat’s out of the bag

Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens is gracing our shores with a tour to South Africa for the very first time. Among other venues around the country, he’s bringing his Peace Train Tour to Kirstenbosch, which marks 50 years since his debut album Matthew & Son was released in 1967. Sadly, tickets to the concert on 11 November 2017 sold out within two hours of going on sale, but organisers have added another date due to popular demand.

Want to know who else is on the bill?Subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll let you know as soon as the full 2017/2018 Summer Concert lineup has been announced.

Please note: Tickets for all Kirstenbosch concerts are available from Webtickets. Sarah Struys, events manager at Kirstenbosch has stated: “Only tickets purchased at Webtickets.co.za are legitimate tickets. Please do not purchase tickets from any other websites, as it may be a scam.”

The Inside Guide has made every effort to ensure that the information in this post was correct at the time of publication. However, we do not assume any liability caused by errors, such as price, cost, time, and location.

82 Responses to “Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts 2017/18”

kholeka

Reza

It would be great to introduce some fresh new talent along with the old favorites. The curator needs to get some fresh perspective on what current music and entertainment trends are in SA. Just a thought.

LekkerLocal

Cape Town locals are such cheapskates!!! Working at a fine dining restaurant at the V&A, we get these “tourist and local price” comments all the time. Locals want the 5 star experience but want to pay McDonald junior burger prices! R125 for an amazing day out in one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, listening to LIVE music is CHEAP!!!!!!!! You have close to 3 months to save up!

Judy

Alicia

Sadly have to agree with Sarah & Judy – yet another of the Cape’s finest features being outpriced for locals to enjoy and share with families. We really have amazing developing local talent that can be showcased & promited whilstvat the sane time time making these events low cost,affordable and accessible to ( particularly) the locals and their families. After having travelled abroad it is becoming evident that easy accessibility to local features is one if the pillars to instilling & promting national pride.#stillprpudlycapetonian

Tracy

Wardah

There should be a price for locals and a price for foreigners/ vacationers – in fact, all the lovely local touristy places should subscribe to that principle. In that way you will obtain more support from locals which means the foreigners get to experience it so much better with a local influence. Otherwise it seems as if these places are really just for vacationers to enjoy and sad for locals to be excluded.

Amos

Mike

Kat

Because it’s during the day, in a beautiful garden and nice music. Hanhing iut with friends, enjoying nature and developing social skills, hanging with other kids in the kids area, or just simply sitting on a blanket with your parents listening to music. What’s wrong with all of that???

Frank

Caroline

I agree with the writers who say that it has become too expensive for locals. Even visiting the gardens without a concert is going up to R60 for adults this month. How can a local family possibly afford this. There should be a price for SA ID holders and a higher price for tourists. I go there often and have calculated the garden is making a lot of money and could well afford to do this.

Zimbie

The people who are saying that tourists should pay more have their heads in the sand. Get your government sorted and get your currency up to par. So what you are saying is that if a South African went to a concert in Zimbabwe the Zimbabs should charge you more because you are not a local or if you went the the States the States should charge you more because of the same reason. Silly, sounds like hogwash to me. They had this same scenario in Zims years ago and look what happened to their currency-Wake up people…..and smell the flowers…..

Rene

As a local family of 5, this is yet another activity in my beautiful city we cannot afford. I would love, love, love to do so many things with hubby and kids (who are almost adults), but it will cost around R1k in all. I agree with local costs for SA ID holders, and tourist costs for visitors. I miss out on so much. 🙁

Maria

This is not a very exciting lineup at all. Where are the days when Kirstenbosch was a melting pot for some really exciting music? They are more interested in people through the turnstiles than with it being a meaningful experience. Prime Circle, Beatenberg, The Parlotones? Really? Come on Kirstenbosch you can do better than this…

Albert

Jessica Ellis

Jimi Nevis, The Parlotones, Prime Circle….seriously?! So many incredible musicians in South Africa yet we are subjected to the same concerts year after year. What an incredibly boring and disappointing line up once again! Get it together Kirstenbosch!!

Azeez

I so agree with most of the comments here same ol line-up every year the absolutely terrible Parlotones yech! .. and equally bad Beatenberg seriously we have so many new and young vibrant musicians and what about some jazz artists like Airborne or Richard Ceasar to name a few .. so yeah thats my 5cents worth will skip this year again like last year .. pity !!

ian

Suzette

Guys, really ……………? Kirstenbosch is a highlight of the summer and been going non stop for few years now. Why do we need to listen and pay for the same artist year after year? There’s great talent out there, be more creative before this is another beautiful, special event busy dying on us 🙁

Irene HarrisonMy

My husband and I are tourist who have been to one of these concerts and are puzzled as to why there are so many negative comments about the price for an outdoor concert. A week long Festival in our home town charged £49 (approx 1000Zar) each evening to an event attend by 1000s of people who were not necessarily wealthy but knew that was the ticket price they had to pay if they wished to attend.On top of this it cost 200Zar to park your car and 120 Zar approx equivalent for a beer and wait for it Picnic Basket for 2 another 1000Zar as one cannot take their own food to these events.Doesn’t that make the events at Kirstenbosch inexpensive to us British tourist? We intend to come again this November.

Melanie

There’s your answer…you come here with ££££££s. So it will be a ‘good price ‘ for a labourer from the UK than a qualified artisan from SA. I have a family of 5 so at R165 per person, you do the maths….automatically cannot afford if I need to pay the bills. So next time you come here buy me 5 tickets for a night out that the average South African cannot afford.

Anja

Matthew

Trudi

Looking for some new blood. How about the new Cape Town band CROSSCURRENT. They are seriously good. Amazing local talent. They will blow you all away and rock the crowd big time. How about getting them to open for someone. Listen to their new 5 song EP on soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/crosscurrent-za/sets/stargazer-ep

Trudi

Warren

Ella

Why do you always have to moan about everything? If you want to go, GO. If you do not want to go, STAY AT HOME! It is really not expensive. People waste so much money on other things like drinking and smoking. It is so much better to spend your money on a lovely concert in one of the most beautiful gardens in the world! If you do not like the music, well there is a lot of other people who love the music and they will go and enjoy the evening.

Deryck

Tamsyn

I was SO EXCITED to see the line up for this season and then…UGH…THE SAME OLD BORING BANDS AGAIN. Come on man. Such an amazing venue and a great afternoon out with friends, please book some new talent in 2017!!!

David Dunning

Matt

This is not expensive. It is reasonably priced. The Botanical Gardens are one of the biggest attractions in Cape Town. PLUS the artists also need to be paid. The acts in the line up have been coming for years and it works. Packed every time! I am sure SANBI has carefully selected the artists for the line up. If the music style does not suit you, try a different venue. However, I agree that South Africa has many new artists who would sure make an awesome performance, ex. Casper Noyvest, AKA (to name a few).

Jimmy Musicman

Ditto, Samezies, copies, repetitive, same old, nothing new, boring, sad. Can’t believe they book the same acts every year, why not mix it up a bit, there are so many bands or groups that would book the whole place, and bring something new to this amazing venue. Not going to even bother going to any of these boring concerts this year.

john

Richard Duane

KICK OUT new group to hit the CT scene, 3 part harmonies with 3 acoustic guitars plus bass, the most beautiful sound you have ever heard, Cape Towns own CSNY, give them a chance and all the others who would blow your socks off.

Axel Borovski

Hello, i agrees with other komment not much variety from different years to years, i see same band too. many times. It get much borringk (sp? ). It show South Africa too conservative with music taste. I see many young act not get chance to grows. Perhaps organize must go round to music venue to see new act for self. But big pity becos very beautiful venue.

Jaqi

Kayla

Hi
Are tickets from viagogo.co.za legitimate? I know I was ripped off with their prices but I have unfortunately already sent through payment and would like to know if these tickets are legit or not? Thanks!

karin Shaw

Hadley

Hi guys my name is hadley veldsman, im a relatively unknown artist residing in cape town. My instruments are guitar and piano. Over the past couple of years i have found it hard to get gigs in this city so have decided to stage my own events. I have two coming up this month. My desire is to deliver quality to the people at an affordable price. Please feel free to add me on facebook to find out more. Cheers

Boniswa

Shannon

Hi, great line up from this year. I really enjoy the kirstenbosch concerts so I try to attend them regularly. Although I love the artists, I think that one more should be added. “Jackal and the Wind” are a South African indie rock band with great music and good vibes, and I really think that they should be invited to perform. You can look at their Facebook page for more infomation. Thank you

Nicky

Julia

Very disappointed about NYE lineup.
I wish you had a different act for NYE.
I’ve already seen JC at KB on NYE and I can’t be paying all that money to see him again? Surely there are other artists that you haven’t hosted before?

Brett

Good to see Jah P, Zim bouy raising the bar.Affordability is a measure of the different people and anyway criticism betters the quality next time.The gardens actually inspires top dollar.On a a good note it dissuades the cheap criminals that infest our shores from making it there….#just saying.#My opinion.

Nico

Tamsyn

Maybe this year you could allow people to vote for the acts they’d like to see the most?
It might be nice to see some up and coming acts as well as old favourites.
Also, keeping the ticket prices reasonable ensures all ages get to enjoy this beautiful venue and lekker vibe.